The Cloud

Curious about the cloud? You’ve come to the right place to learn!

Welcome aboard! For your cloud journey we are highlighting the commercial air travel industry. We will get you to your proverbial gate, handle all your bags with care, and keep you safely in the cloud. You don’t have to worry about all the noise and hassle of getting to your plane and dealing with the airport. Duncan has it all covered. We hope you enjoy your journey with us! Along the way we will answer any questions you have and lift the burden off your shoulders of entering the cloud. All you have to do is sit back, relax, and we’ll do all the work.

If you’ve been hearing the words “the cloud” tossed around lately and are confused, that’s perfectly fine. We understand the concept isn’t common knowledge yet, but it will be in a few short years. Lucky for you, we have combined everything the cloud has to offer so you don’t have to worry about how it all comes and stays together. Our job is to take care of the heavy lifting and make it easy for you to utilize the cloud without having the burden to learn everything about it. Think of the cloud as a commodity consumed like you do electricity and water. When the lights are on or the water is running you pay monthly. The public cloud is no different.

Today we will be exploring the different types of cloud platforms, terminology, and benefits that the cloud provides. Just know that in the future, we will coordinate all of these things for you so you do not have to worry. So please fasten your seat belts and enjoy your peanuts.

From Email to your favorite letter drive, the cloud can encompass all of your business productivity tools and workflows, and when bundled it can become one resource paid monthly. The cloud allows you to move your business to a variety of secure servers that you can peer into from anywhere. Instead of using your own computer servers, you rent services that are channeled and streamed from companies such as Amazon Web Services, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft. By doing so, you cut out the cost of maintaining your own servers and only subscribe to the services you need.

A common misconception is that the cloud is simply on-line backup, but it is much more than that. Think of it as signing up for Netflix, but instead of movies, you’re given secure access to your whole office on-line. Your business tools are provided on demand. This might not be as entertaining as your favorite John Wayne western, but it is truly remarkable in its own right.

Now that you have a basic understanding of what the cloud is, it is important to know that there are three unique yet potentially intermingling types of cloud infrastructures:

Private Cloud

The private cloud is a cloud infrastructure operated solely for your organization and is owned and maintained by you.

Public Cloud

A good example of the public cloud is Netflix. You subscribe to their streaming service to watch your favorite movies but you do not own any of the media, software or processes. When using the public cloud in a home or office setting, the software and tools are running elsewhere. You are working on rented virtual or physical servers through application process interfaces (API) that allow you to peer into your office from the device of your choice without the capitalization required by the internal revenue service (IRS).

Hybrid Cloud

To overcome some of the challenges presented by a purely public or private cloud there is a third infrastructure available: the hybrid model. This is a combination of public cloud offerings, such as Email and off-site backup, while continuing to use your on-site or private cloud-based productivity resources. Currently the hybrid model is the preferred method for most businesses. With this option you essentially get the best of both worlds.

We hope you are comfortable, can we get you anything? Please pardon the turbulence. Would you like a refreshment?

There is a multitude of benefits that the cloud offers. For starters, there is potential for cost savings. You no longer have to worry about your hardware or software becoming obsolete. No server, no upgrades, no consultation fees to get new hardware in place. Your life just got a whole lot easier!

Total cost of ownership isn’t the only reason to consider making the move.

Productivity is a huge part as well. From remote desktop services to shared file storage, you will have access to your most pertinent business information when and where you need it. Stay mobile with the device of your choice, whether it is on your laptop, tablet, or phone.